Flutter
by Lillystream
Summary: Angie didn't know when it happened, or how. But all she knew was she was deeply, unbelievably in love with Iruma Miu. She and her friends try their best to make Miu feel welcomed, but there are some things going on that Miu would rather keep secret. Basically just fluff with a sprinkle of angst, as is usual for my fics


Yonaga Angie had no idea when it happened; but, before she realized, she was unbelievably, undeniably in love. She had butterflies in her tummy and her heart beat swiftly, hammering in her chest whenever she saw the subject of her affections. Oh how unfair it was, for them to be so stunning, so lovely.

Not that many of her friends would agree.

She was aware of how other people saw her love. She didn't understand it, but almost everyone she knew wasn't a very big fan of the one who caused her to lose herself like this. She just couldn't comprehend how people could look at such a wonderful, gorgeous person and not see anything but perfection. How they could look at such a goddess and scrunch their face in distaste or scowl at her as they would.

Instead, Angie felt her heart flutter with love whenever she saw Iruma Miu. Just beautiful and confident and kind. Though the confidence had a false tendency and the kindness came out aggressive and brash. She still saw it. Angie knew how to look a little deeper, you see. She knew that, despite her harsh words and uncaring disposition, Iruma Miu's heart was sweet and full of tenderness and concern.

She didn't know when it had happened; she couldn't help it either. Once she realized she loved this girl, Angie was engulfed in such admiration and desire. She wanted to be the one to make Miu laugh. She wanted to be the one to make her smile. She wanted to be the one who let Miu know she was loved and appreciated and _wanted_.

Because, though her classmates seemed to ignore it or not notice it, Angie saw.  
She'd never felt much anger or experienced any neglect in her life. She was a happy girl and lived a happy childhood, having been dotted on relentlessly by her parents and raised in a home full of open mindedness and love.  
Angie saw the way Miu flinched. The way she got scared and nervous. No one else thought much of the way she cracked vulgar jokes and talked about sex relentlessly. As if to compensate for something; as if she needed to offer more. The way she cackled loudly enough for multiple people, as though to share her humor with someone who wasn't there. No one thought about the crazy inventions she made; they were insane, they thought. No one needed all these whacko things that helped them when they slept.

But she could see how much Miu wanted to help people. Wanted so desperately to be useful and wanted and needed. How badly she wanted to make a difference and be relied on.  
Angie could tell Miu didn't know how to love with her heart. For some reason she only thought to love with her body, as if they were the same. Angie could tell whenever Miu was offering up her body, she was really trying to aim for something else. Something softer, something genuine. Angie was mad. She couldn't understand why someone would teach her this. She didn't know where Miu got this thought process from.

Angie hadn't even realized she'd been so obviously in love. Tenko and Himiko gave her concerned looks often, but didn't pry. Like they wanted to ask her something but didn't want to push. Her parents were a little less subtle. Her father hinted heavily "if there was something she wanted to talk with him about" and her mother outright asked her who her girlfriend was.

"Mom!" she cried out, embarrassed. "Angie's not dating anyone!"

"But Angie," her mother said, pouting childishly and similar to her daughter, "you've been on cloud nine! You're acting how I was when I met your father!"

Her dad, a kind man with sun weathered skin and gray hair, shuffled his newspaper from where he sat at the dinner table. He had been acting like he wasn't paying attention to their conversation but he was obviously tuned in completely to the two of them.

"Mom! I'm… not dating her yet…"

"Aaah!" her mother squealed. "I knew it! Oh who is she, who is she!?"

Angie smiled. "Her name is Iruma Miu…"  
"Oh that's such a cute name!" her father jumped in, dropping his paper and his facade entirely. "What is she like? When are you going to bring her over? Your mother and I want to meet her!"

"Darling!" her mother scolded, though it was ruined by her trying to hide a bright smile. "They're not dating yet! But yes, Angie! We would love to meet her. Bring her over sometime!"

With parents like this, she thought maybe things would work out.

"Miu Miu!" she called out to her one day, after class, catching the other girl and her own friends off guard. "You should come get ice cream with Angie and the others!"

"W-what…?" Miu blinked slowly at her, somewhat cowering away from her.

"Angie?" Tenko questioned quietly from next to her.

"Angie thinks we should all go together! Do you wanna come, Miu?"

Miu twirled her blonde hair in one of her hands, subconsciously. Her cheeks were pretty and pink and she seemed to think the offer over.

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why… would you want me to come?"

Angie tilted her head to the side. "Because Miu is funny and smart and Angie wants us to be better friends. Besides, what kind of friend would I be if I didn't even know your favorite flavor of ice cream! C'mon Miu Miu! You should come!"

"Yeah Miu!" Kaede chimed in next to her. "You should come hang out with us for once! You're always off tinkering so much. Spend some time with us for a change!"

"We can go to the arcade after," Himiko offered, quietly. "I don't know if you're into that kind of stuff…"

"We could do karaoke if you wanna do that instead!" Tenko added, seeing what was going on. There was no way she'd leave a girl to spend all of her time alone without friends.

Angie found herself so grateful for her wonderful parents and friends.

Miu seemed shell shocked that so many people wanted to spend time with her.

"You… you all actually wanna hang out with me? Like… for real?"

"Of course!"

And that's how they all found themselves at an ice cream parlor after all their classes for the day wrapped up. Angie oversaw her friends getting their favorite flavors as always, as she enjoyed her own mango sorbet. Tenko got mint chocolate chip, like she tended to. Himiko got strawberry and Kaede got white chocolate raspberry. Predictable.

Angie was surprised when Miu got cookie dough ice cream. Such a childish flavor and Miu seemed to be enjoying it wholeheartedly.

Miu… seemed hesitant to join them. But her friends made sure to include her and not let her just be there quietly. The first couple of attempts, she responded her normal way. Loudly, with offensive language.

"Miu," Angie said, seriously. "You don't have to act like that with us. We like you for you, you know."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you can drop the act." Angie rested her chin on her palm. "Just relax a little bit and be natural. It's okay."

"Angie-" Kaede began to reprimand her, before Miu's shoulders sagged slightly.

"Sorry…" she murmured. "I'm… just not used to this. I'll try and be less… gross."

The others shared concerned glances, unsure what to do with this Miu they'd never seen before. Iruma? Vulnerable? Never. Angie just smiled.

"No, no, no! Miu's not gross. You just don't need to feel like you have to act different with us. We'll like you fine just the way you are!"

And, with the way Iruma Miu smiled in that moment, Angie felt like she'd just hung the moon. Her heart swelled and her tummy swirled like warm milk and honey. Miu smiled so sweetly at her, she felt her pulse would stop. But stop it didn't; if anything, it started going a mile a minute.

They went to the arcade, and found that Miu was quite skilled at most of the games, kicking all of their butts at almost everything. Tenko managed to win at skeeball but Miu slaughtered them all in the racing and shooting games.

It was such a great day.

And they begun having more of these days with Miu.

And Miu begane opening up more and more, making friends with more of their classmates. Angie couldn't be happier.

"Invite them all over!" her mother insisted. "Have a girls night at home! You can all sleep over and we'll order pizza and you girls can play games and watch movies."

So, she did.

Kaede, Himiko, and Tenko were all already arranged around her room in their PJs by the time Miu showed up. She stood in front of her door, nervously as if she'd never been to another person's home before. She had a small, worn duffel bag that didn't seem her style at all.

She brought her in with warm smiles and introduced her to her parents. Angie had to commend them for not showing their downright excitement at meeting the girl their daughter was interested in.

They ate pizza and watched crappy movies and gossiped.

"Thanks, Ange," she heard Miu whisper to her as the other girls all went to bed that night. "I don't know what I did to deserve you… but thank you."

Angie's heart fluttered.

"Of course, Miu Miu. You deserve the world…"

Miu coming over became a regular occurence. She mingled with her parents and came over for dinner or movie night regularly. Soon enough, her parents started inviting her to game nights and Miu was over so often no one batted an eye at their closeness anymore.

She didn't notice anything going on with Miu for a while. Nothing wrong. She would go into relapse with her overbearing personality from time to time and Angie would do her best to comfort her. She thought she knew Miu pretty well and didn't put too much thought into it. Neither did the others. Some days Miu would wear stronger perfume or heavier makeup and no one gave her a hard time over it where they would have before.

"Angie," Momota approached her one day at lunch. She sat waiting for the others. "Is everything okay with Iruma?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Gonta came up as well. "Miu… seems like she's not doing so good? Or, Korekiyo seems to think so."

Shinguji nodded in agreement. "You see… as an anthropologist, I have a tendency to monitor people often. She's showing heavy signs of abuse, to be frank. She always has, but it's gotten stronger recently. I was simply wondering if she's said anything to you."

Angie felt her blood run cold.

"She's WHAT!?"

Passerbys looked over in their direction, startled and concerned at the loud outburst.

Shinguji sighed as he waved the others off. "Please do not overreact. It may be me just overthinking things either way. However, I thought it would be best to approach you since you are the closest to her. She hasn't said anything to you, has she?"

"No!" Angie whispered back, panicked. "Are you saying bad things have been happening to Miu!?"

"Maybe…" he admitted. "Maybe not… I'd like to hope not. Please… keep your eyes and ears out and don't do anything that would put her in a bad spot. I'll be working with some people in the meantime, so let me know of any new occurrences, would you? Saihara and I are going to be looking into things."

And yet, weeks went on without Miu saying anything out of the ordinary. She got jumpier and tended to act a bit quieter than usual, but still she said nothing. Didn't indicate anything was wrong or out of the ordinary.

Angie and the others of the class all kept a heavy eye out for her, but no one caught on to anything knew. No new developments, nothing that any of them could really do. None of them thought it would be a good idea to outright ask her anything either. Shuuichi and his uncle hadn't come up with anything either. They were rather stuck...  
Then, one day, while Angie was out doing errands for her mom, she saw Miu outside of an apartment with an older man. He grasped her wrists in one hand and fumbled with his keys in the other. Miu looked terrified but didn't resist. Angie saw red.  
She dashed in, screaming and throwing a fit. Miu looked mortified as the neighbors nearby rushed out at her screeching and the police were quickly involved.

Angie would learn a bit later that the man had been a social worker Miu had been passed on to. Apparently Miu had been passed around social workers for quite some time now; and most of them ended like this. And she'd never been told. Miu hadn't ever said _anything_.  
Miu was a sobbing wreck when Angie brought her into her arms. She called her parents, explaining the situation as best she could. Miu needed somewhere to stay at least until they found a new foster home or social worker.  
Angie's parents were appalled and outraged at the situation. Her parents thought of Miu as a second daughter after everything, and they were just as enraged as she was. Angie's mother demanded that the girl be taken into their care and custody. Her father was right beside her, expressing his anger explicitly to the people in charge of Miu's care and distribution.  
"You keep giving the girl to a bunch of old perverts! TO CHILD MOLESTERS!" he was screaming at one of the social workers. "I will make sure each and every one of you is out of a job should something like this happen again! The girl stays with us!"  
This was followed by months of court. In the end the custody was won and Miu was now a Yonaga; though, she'd been one for a long time before that. Angie helped with setting up her bedroom and getting her situated.  
Angie could tell she was nervous; she could only guess how long she'd been abused by people who were supposed to be taking care of her. Her stomach churned in disgust at the thought. It certainly wasn't a recent development, with how used to it Miu seemed. How... almost expected it was for her.  
Their classmates were shocked at the development, and were entirely sympathetic towards Miu. They couldn't believe she'd been keeping quiet about it the entire time.  
"Fuck, Iruma…" Momota bowed his head to her. "I'm so fucking sorry I never noticed…"

"Yeah," Amami murmured, dragging a hand tiredly across his face. "We're… we're so sorry…"

"What could you fuckers have done?" Miu said, softly. "Don't beat yourself up over it. I'm fucking used to it anyway. You don't have to-"

"You shouldn't be used to it!" Angie found herself snapping, making Miu flinch. She frowned before taking Miu's hand gently into her own. "I'm sorry for yelling… but, you shouldn't be used to something like that. You deserve to be loved, Miu."

The blonde girl blushed prettily and looked down at their hands, twirling strawberry locks between hesitant fingertips. Miu smiled nervously and nodded slowly.

"I'm sorry Ange… I'm… just not used to all of this."

"Well, we're all here for you," Kaede encouraged her. "Anything you need, you've got all of us now! You're our friend, Miu."

"Yeah!" Ouma grinned from his seat on one of the desks. "You're a fucking nerd, and just because you didn't have any friends before doesn't mean you can escape us now! Nishishi!"

"You're stuck with us!"

Everyone agreed and threw in their two cents, and Angie could tell Miu was clearly feeling overwhelmed by the new sensation of having friends and being cared about.

She sensed it in the shaking of her hand and shoulders, but Miu couldn't stop the tears that fell slowly down her flushed cheeks. She raised her hands, burying her face in their palms as her body was wracked with sobs.

Angie brought her gently into her arms, letting the taller girl nuzzle into the crook of her shoulder and rubbing small, comforting circles into her back.

The others saw this as an opportunity, and before anyone realized, the entire class was wrapped up together.

"Group hug, group hug!" Kaede giggled and cheered as everyone gathered around.

"You fuckers are so goddamn sappy!" Angie heard Miu shout, sounding happier than the words implied. She rubbed her cheeks against Miu's wet ones, laughing warmly.

Miu found herself adapting to the Yonaga lifestyle. They would all wake up early and spend time together before everyone headed out for work and school. Miu was surprised that Angie's mother cooked for them every morning.

"I usually just had whatever was in the fridge…"

Angie wondered, with curled fists, how often there was nothing.

They would go to school and got to spend time with their friends during breaks and usually afterwards.

Then, heading home, they would eat dinner together as a family.

And the next day they got to repeat it all again.

Angie found herself falling further and further for Miu as the time went on. Miu learned from her new friends and family what she wanted to become and how she wanted to act. She was slowly learning that her old life was unacceptable, finally having something to compare the heinous circumstances to. She was learning to love people in a healthy, normal manner and Angie couldn't be prouder.

She found her affections deepen when she saw how often Miu began to smile. How brightly she shone when she greeted their friends or when Miu bid her parents goodbye for the day. How Miu would help her mother with the cooking or cleaning or how she would offer Angie help with all the science and math homework she didn't understand.

The two of them spent all sorts of time together.

They would craft and tinker together, Miu humming some sort of pretty tune usually to fill the silence. Angie would allow Miu to drag her into watching all sorts of corny cartoon shows, despite her halfheartedly saying "they're for kids, Miu."

"They're for fucking everyone, Ange! See! E for everyone!"

Angie would throw popcorn at her and Miu would catch it in her mouth, grinning cheekily at Angie's failure.

"Angie?" Himiko asked her one day, while Miu wasn't around. She'd been invited to go window shopping with Kaede and Tsumugi, and Angie already had plans with Tenko and Himiko. "Are you in love with Miu?"

She began choking on the raspberry soda she'd been drinking and Himiko helped by pounding her hand on her back.

"Gosh Angie! I asked you a question! I wasn't trying to kill you!"

"Himiko… Tenko thinks you could have been more tactful with that question… Maybe next time ask someone while they're not eating or drinking."

After calming her coughing and sputtering fit, Angie sat there, embarrassed.

"I… yeah."

"You are!" Tenko clapped enthusiastically. "Tenko supports you! She figured you liked her a long time ago, but there was never a good time to bring it up."

"Yeah," Himiko murmured sleepily, after figuring the crisis was averted. "You're always so ga ga over her, I was sure you loved her."

Angie hid her face in her hands. "Please kill me."

"No can do!" Tenko harrumphed. "You've got a lady love to woo over, after all!"

"A _what_?"

"A beautiful woman," Himiko egged on, grinning smugly. "You've got a girlfriend to get, Angie."

"UGH!" Angie groaned. "You two are so embarrassing! I can't just tell Miu she's sparkly like the stars even though I want to! She's so pretty and smart and good and I can't just go and say that!"

"Wow, Angie," Tenko sighs. "That's gay."

"Tenko!"

"I mean, that _was_ pretty gay Angie. We would know."  
"Himiko, you're not helping!"  
"No," she conceded. "But we want to."

"Operation Get Angie with Miu commence!"

Angie figured, with friends and supporters like these, she couldn't go wrong.

"Ok guys, Angie's finally gonna ask Miu out," Angie resolved, steeling her confidence.

" _PERFECT_." Tenko gushed. "We'll get Kaede and set it all up!"

"Yeah! A picnic or something! We'll have rose petals, and candles, and smooth jazz!"

"You guys are the best!"

Angie thought the plan started out quite simple. She was going to have Miu take a walk with her around the park. After some time, they would find themselves at the picnic that Tenko, Kaede, and Himiko were setting up near one of the park fountains.  
"Don't worry Angie! Tenko and the others are on the case!"  
"Yeah, it seems like an awful lot of effort but we'll help."  
"You just have fun with Miu! We'll make it nice and pretty for your special moment."  
Angie had good faith in her friends, so she asked Miu to go with her and decided to leave the rest up to them and god.  
Miu was having a blast, walking around the park. She insisted on going on the swings together when they spotted a small playground.  
"Miu, you're so silly."  
"Are you kidding, Angie? These are the most fucking fun you'll ever have!"

"Yeah, I remember from when I was eight."

"Ange! You just don't get it," she sneered playfully as she trotted over to the set. "These things are the _best_!" She hoisted herself atop one of the seats and began swinging her legs.

Angie got up on the seat next to her, feeling enamored with this open, smiling Miu. She managed to match Miu's pace, to a certain extent and she grinned cheekily.

"Look, Miu! We're double dating!"

The blonde girl's cheeks flared pink and she nearly fell out of the swing's seat from seven feet in the air. Angie laughed but called out in concern, "Miu don't go flying!"

"You're so fucking embarrassing!"

Miu hopped off the swings and waited impatiently for Angie's own momentum to slow down before she took a flying leap.

"Ange!"

"And she sticks the landing!"

Angie decided to grasp Miu's hand and start their stroll towards their picnic; she just hoped everything was going well for the others and that she had an actual shot with this stunning, lovely girl.

She was immediately thrown into a panic when she came to the site.

The banners the girls made were torn, there were several fires going on, and Tenko, Himiko, and Kaede were guiltily standing in front of a park guard while firefighters tried to put out the flames.

"Is… is the fountain on fire? What the actual fuck happened? Why the fuck are the others here?"

Angie moved to stand in front of the flaming mess - she could see the candles knocked over everywhere and figured that's where it all went wrong - and spread her arms out, smiling as much as she could.

"Ta da… Nyahahaha! I was gonna try and tell you I like you… Aha…"

Miu stood still, shellshocked. "You… like me?"

"Lots and lots… Sorry, if that makes Miu uncomfortable-"

She was cut off as slender arms wrapped around her and she found her face nuzzled in the crook of Miu's neck. She was enveloped in the scent of roses and faint motor oil.

"... You're such a fucking goof, Ange. I love you a lot, you know?"

"You… you what?"

"You're great. You've been so good to me… I thought you liking me was just wishful thinking, but I like you too."

Angie felt tears well up in the corners of her eyes as she buried herself further into Miu's shoulder.

"Aww, Ange. You don't need to cry."

"But Angie's so happy!"

"We… should probably go get those fucking morons out of trouble. How the fuck do you set a fountain on fire…"


End file.
